Multiple hoist.



W. A. BARKER.

MULTIPLE HOIST.

APPLIOATION Hum APB.26,1B11.

Patented Apr. 2,1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

W. A. BARKER.

MULTIPLE HOIST.

APPLICATION FILED APE.26,1911.

Patented Apr.2, 1912.

3 BHEBTS'-BHEET 2,

km KN fizz/6Z2 4. 2077567 W NESSES COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO.,WASHINOTON,D- C.

W. A. BARKER.

MULTIPLE HOIST.

APPLIOATION IILEDAPR. 26. 1911.

1,022,349. Patented Apr.2, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH COqWASNINGTON a. CV

WENDELL A. BARKER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MULTIPLE I-IOISI.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 25, 1911.

Patented Apr. 2, 1912. Serial No. 623,190.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVENDELL A. BARKER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Multiple Hoists, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new and improved form of hoist, which may beused for raising and lowering a number of buckets, or the like, at thesame time, the rope for each bucket being independent from those of allthe other buckets to the extent that each rope may be individuallyraised 01' lowered without affecting the operation of the other ropes.

It will be understood that for many purposes, a hoist which is soconstructed that a number of hoisting ropes may be individuallymanipulated is desirable. A good illustration of a location where amultiple hoist is desirable is given in the case of a building where itis necessary to sink a large number of caissons. For each caisson, ahole must be dug to a considerable depth. Under ordinary circumstances,it would be necessary to provide an individual hoist for each hole, sothat a large number of hoists would be needed, or else only one or twoholes could be dug at a time. It is often necessary to sink the caissonsdirectly under a building, which is already standing. A familiar exampleof such a condition may be taken in the case of an old building which isto be torn down and replaced by a new building. In order to save time,it is desirable to sink the caissons for the new building before the oldbuilding is torn down, and this work must be carried on in the basementof the old building where only a small amount of head-room is available,and v where the greatest economy of space must be exercised. In such alocation, the multiple hoist is peculiarly desirable, because of itscompactness, and, as will hereinafter appear, the hoist of the presentinvention is peculiarly well adapted for arrangement of its parts tosecure low head-room.

It will be understood that where a number of individual caissons arebeing sunk, an attendant should be stationed at each caisson tohandlethe material which is sent up in the hoisting bucket. The hoistshould be so arranged and constructed that each attendant may controlthe hoisting force exerted on the rope which leads from the hoist to hiscaisson, so that he can raise the bucket only as fast as he wishes, orcan allow the same to slip back a little, or can entirely relieve thehoisting effort from his rope. At the same time, the hoist should beconstructed in a simple manner, so that it will not easily get out oforder.

Objects of the present invention are to provide a multiple hoist, whichmay be equipped with any desired number of hoisting sheaves, or drums;in which each sheave, or hoisting drum, may be individually connected toor disconnected from the source of power without in any way affectingthe action of the remaining sheaves, or drums; to equip the hoist withsuitable pulleys and guides, so that the hoisting ropes may be led intothe hoist from any direction desired; to provide suitable mechanism sothat each hoisting drum, or sheave, will be thrown into clutch with thesource of power automatically, when a slight tension is placed on theslack end of the rope connected to it; to so arrange the mechanism thatthe sheave will remain connected with the source of power only as longas some tension is maintained on the slack end of the rope; to soarrange the mechanism that the speed of each sheave may be perfectlycontrolled at all times simply by regulating the amount of tension onthe slack end of the rope; to so arrange the mechanisms that they may bebrought together in a very compact and efficient relationship; andingeneral to provide a mechanism intended to meet all of the foregoingrequirements as well as others.

Other objects and uses will appear from a detailed description of theinvention which consists in the features of construction and combinationof parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring now to the drawings, in Figure 1, I show a side view of myimproved hoist, the same being equipped with four pairs of hoistingsheaves, making eight sheaves in all, and all adapted to be driven by acommon motor; in Fig. 2, I show a plan view of the mechanism of Fig. 1;in Fig. 3, I show a plan view of the mechanism of Fig. 1, the topportion of the hoist being cut away; in Fig. 4, I show an enlargeddetail cross section taken on the line 4- of Fig. 1 looking in thedirection of the arrows; in Fig. 5, I show an enlarged detail of aportion of a single hoisting unit to show the manner in which the ropeis passed over the several pulleys and the sheaves, the arm beingreturned to normal position; and in Fig. 6, I show a view similar toFig. 5, the arm being drawn over to throw the sheaves into clutch byapplying tension on the slack end of the rope.

In the embodiment of my invention, I provide a hoisting sheave, or drum,for each rope, which is to be accommodated by the hoist. I then providea clutch mechanism of suitable form, adapted to throw the sheave intoand out of engagement with a member which is continuously driven by amotor, or other source of power. The rope corresponding to this sheaveis guided up to the same and partly encircles it. It then passes off andaway from the sheave over pulleys, or other similar guides, suitablysupported so that when a tension is thrown on the slack end of the rope,the clutch mechanism will be operated to throw the sheave into clutchwith the gear, or other mechanism, which is running at constant speed. Aspring, or the like, is provided for restoring the clutch mechanism tonormal position, thus releasing the sheave, when the tension on theslack end of the rope is released or sufficiently reduced.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention, I provide a number of maingears, all of which are meshed together and continuously driven. Eachmain gear is provided with a clutch block on each face and adjacent eachclutch block is located the corresponding hoisting sheave. This in turnis provided in the adjacent face with a depression of suitable form andsize to engage the clutch block. Each sheave is loosely mounted on itsshaft, so that it may be shifted back and forth by means of suitableshifting mechanism. Each shifting mechanism is in the form of a fixedcam, and a co-acting cam between the fixed cam and the correspondingsheave, said co-acting cam being provided with an arm which carries oneof the guide pulleys for the slack end of the rope. By properly guidingthe rope over this pulley, the arm will be thrown over when a tension isplaced on the slack end of the rope, and thus the clutch mechanism willbe actuated to throw the sheave into clutch.

Referring now to the drawings, the particular form of mechanism thereinillustrated is carried by a suitable frame which is provided with a pairof lower longitudinal rails 7 and 8, upper longitudinal rails 9 and 10,vertical struts 11, and cross braces 12. A pair of middle rails 18 and14 respectively serve as supports for the necessary axles and clutches.

In the construction illustrated, an electric motor 15 provides power forrotating a main shaft 16 through the medium of a pulley 17 j and thepulley 18, which are connected by a belt 19. The main shaft carries apinion 20 which meshes with gears 21 on jack shafts 22 which lattercarry pinions 23.

In the construct-ion illustrated, the mechanism is substantiallysymmetrical with respect to the main shaft, the latter being adapted todrive four hoisting sheaves on each side. Owing to the fact that themechanism of the several pairs of sheaves are practically alike, Ishall, in a later portion of this specification, limit myself to adescription of but one pair of sheaves, thus shortening and simplifyingthe description.

On each side of the mechanism, I provide two shafts 24 in line, each ofwhich carries in its middle portion a gear 25, the nearer one of saidgears meshing directly with the pinion 23, and the farther of the gearsmeshing with the gear in advance of it. Thus all of these gears 25 arecontinuously rotated by themotor through the medium of the necessaryconnections. Inorder to prevent longitudinal displacement of each gearon the shaft 24, a suitable key 26 is provided, and the journals 27 forthese shafts are of suitable formation to prevent endwise move ment ofthe shafts. The desirability of this construction will subsequentlyappear.

Each side of each gear is provided with an inner flange 28 and an outerflange 29, the said flanges being suitably formed and spaced toaccommodate between them a clutch block 30 of truncated cone formation.Each hoisting sheave 31 is slidably mounted on the shaft, and isprovided with a clutch flange 32, having its inner face 33 suitablyformed to engage the clutch block 30, when the sheave is pushed overagainst the same. In the construction shown, each sheave is providedwith a groove 34 of proper shape to drive a hoisting rope.

The bearing members 27 which were previously mentioned have their innerportions 35 suitably formed to present cam faces 36 with which slidablecam blocks 37 may engage, each cam block in turn pressing against thehub 38 of the corresponding sheave. Each cam block is provided with anarm 39, the upper end 410 of which serves as a bearing for a pulley 11,the groove of which alines with the groove of the corresponding sheave.As the arm is rotated back and forth, it will. shift the sheave into andout of engagement with the corresponding clutch block 30, the groove ofthe corresponding pulley meanwhile maintaining its alinement with thegroove of the sheave.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 5 and 6, I will describe thepreferred arrangement for guiding each rope over its sheave.

The rope comes in over a pulley 12 which can swing around to face the'direction from which the rope comes. The pulley is so con structed,however, that the rope always passes through a hole 43, located directlyabove the groove of the sheave so that the rope will always be guidedstraight down into the groove of the sheave without binding on anyportion of the structure. After encircling the sheave, the rope passesover the pulley 41 on the arm 39 and then out and away from the hoistover a pulley 44. This latter pulley is also so formed that it may swinginto any position to allow the rope to pass off at the proper angle.

It will be noted that the pulley 41 creates a considerable angle 45 inthe slack portion 46 of the rope so that as soon as a tension is placedon said slack end, the arm will be drawn over into the positionindicated in Fig. 6, thus throwing the sheave into clutch and causingthe same to rotate in the direction of the arrow of said figure. lVhilea suflicient tension is maintained on the slack end of the rope, whichmay be done by taking up the rope as fast as itis fed over by the hoist,the sheave will be held in clutch, but as soon as the slack end of therope is loosened, a spring 47 will return the arm to its normalposition, thus unclutching the sheave. By this arrangement, the operatorhaving charge of the slack end of the rope can constantly control theclutching and unclutching of the sheave causing it to pull on the ropeor allowing the rope to run backward at will.

Reference again to Fig. 4 will show that the groove in each sheave isV-shaped. Such a shape is especially desirable for use in the presentcase, because the only gripping friction of the sheave on the rope isthat due to the tension placed on the slack end thereof. By the use ofthe V-shaped groove, however, and by guiding the rope over the sheave inthe manner illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, in which it is seen that therope nearly encircles the sheave, a sufficient gripping action is easilysecured for hoisting any desired weight on the rope.

I will now describe more in detail the guiding pulleys 42 and 44. Theguide pulley 42 which may be designated the incoming pulley, is mountedin a housing 47, the base 48 of which is provided with a hole 49. Aflanged member 50 is rigidly secured to the frame of the housing in sucha way as to provide a space 51 below the flange 52 thereof. An inturnedcollar 53 on the housing partly encircles the flange 52 so that the hole49 in the base of the housing always registers with a hole 54 in theflanged member, the pulley being so pivoted in its housing that itsgroove is directly in line with the hole 54 and the groove of the sheaveat all times. It is true that the sheave may move back and forth atrifle during the clutching and unclutching operations, but thismovement is so small that it does not affect the operation of themechanism.

By placing the flange 53 on the rear side of the housing, the same willbe held in proper engagement with the member 50 as long as there is atension on the rope, and for this reason also it is not necessary thatthe flange 53 should completely encircle the flange 52, and thus I haveprovided a pulley which may be lifted away from the stationary portionof the hoist when the tension is released from the rope, without in anyway disturbing the rest of the mechanism.

The preferred construction of pulley 44 which I term the outgoing pulleyis well illustrated in Fig. 6. Its base comprises a horizontalcylindrical member 55 adapted to receive the neck 56 of a pulley yoke57. The neck is provided with an annular groove 58 which is engaged by aset'screw 59 in the base member to hold the neck in engagement with thesame. The base member is mounted practically in line with the pulley 41so that the grooves of the two pulleys will be practically in line atall times. The bearing 60 of the yoke is preferably raised slightly offcenter from the neck 56, so that a tension on the slack end of the ropewill tend to twist the outgoing pulley over, thus causing it to face inthe proper direction to allow the rope to leave practically on a tangentfrom the pulley. In the construction illustrated, the outgoing pulleysare mounted together in the same base in pairs for the adjacent sheaves.

As heretofore stated, one of the main objects of this invention is to soassociate the different parts of the hoist that they may be brought intocompact a structure as possible, and one requiring a low head-room andcomparatively small floor area. As a general rule, it is more desirablethat the machine should be narrow in one direction than that it shouldbe short in the other direction. I have taken advantage of this fact tosecure low head-room, by placing all of the gears in line, and drivingin both directions from the main shaft which carries the pulley 18. Thisbeing the case, the chief factor determining head-room is the diameterof the hoisting sheave and the locations of the pulleys which guide therope over the same.

I have been enabled to place the various mechanisms within thecomparatively narrow structure by mounting a hoisting sheave on eachside of the main gear, thus virtually making the same do double duty. Atthe same time the total weight and cost of the structure is reduced byreduction of a number of parts, and increasing the size of each.

By driving in both directions from the main shaft 16, the stresses inthe gears 25 are reduced, thus permitting me to make the same of lightermaterial and more economically.

By properly forming the journals 27, I prevent endwise movement of theshafts 24. This is desirable in order toprevent lateral displacement ofthe gears, so that when the hoisting sheave on either side is thrownint-o clutch, the sheave on the other side will not be affected.

When desired, a series of diagonal braces 61 may be provided forreinforcing the frame work, although as a general rule these would notbe necessary.

I claim:

1. In a hoist, the combination of a driving member mounted on a shaft, ahoisting member loosely mounted on the shaft adj acent one face of thedriving member, friction clutch mechanism between the hoisting memberand the driving member, shifting mechanism for shifting the hoistingmember into lateral engagement with the driving member, a guide pulleymounted on said shifting member, and other guide pulleys for guiding thehoisting rope over the hoisting member and said first mentioned guidepulley in such manner that tension on the slack end of the rope actuatesthe shifting member to throw the hoisting member into clutch with thedriving member, substantially as described.

2. In a hoist, the combination of a driving member mounted on a shaft,ahoisting member loosely mounted on the shaft adjacent one face of thedriving member, friction clutch mechanism between the hoisting memberand the driving member, a shifting member on the shaft for throwing thehoisting member laterally into engagement with the driving member, anarm on said shifting member, a pulley on the arm, and other pulleys forguiding the rope over the hoisting member and over the arm pulley insuch a manner that tension on the slack end of the rope throws the armto actuate the shifting member to throw the hoisting member into clutchwith the driving member, substantially as described. a

3. In a hoist, the combination of a driving member mounted on a shaft, ahoisting member loosely mounted on the shaft adjacent one face of thedriving member, friction clutch mechanism between the hoisting memberand the driving member, a shifting member on the shaft for throwing thehoisting member laterally into engagement with the driving member, anarm on the shift-ing member, a pulley on the arm, an incoming guidepulley in fixed relation with respect to the hoisting member, anoutgoing guide pulley in fixed relation to the arm pulley, andpositioned with respect to the same to guide the slack end of the ropeover the arm pulley in a manner to create an angle in the same, wherebywhen tension is thrown on the slack end of the rope the arm will bethrown over to throw the shifting mechanism and bring the hoistingmember into clutch engagement with the driving member, substantially asdescribed.

4:. In a hoist, the combination of a rotatable power member, a hoistingsheave laterally adjacent the same, clutch mechanism between the powermember and the sheave, shifting mechanism in position to shift thesheave to actuate the clutch mechanism, a guide pulley secured to theshifting mechanism, and other pulleys suitably positioned to guide thehoisting rope over the sheave and over the first mentioned guide pulleyto form an angle in the hoisting rope with the shifting mechanism guidepulley in such angle, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. In a hoist, the combination of a rotatable driving member, a hoistingsheave laterally adjacent the same, clutch mechanism between the drivingmember and the sheave, a stationary member, a cam shifting memberbetween the sheave and the stationary member in position to shift thesheave and actuate the clutch mechanism, a guide pulley carried by thecam member, and other pulleys suitably positioned for guiding thehoisting rope over the sheave and over' the cam member guide pulley toproduce an angle in the hoisting rope with its apex at the cam memberguide pulley, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a hoist, the combination of a rotatable driving member, a hoistingmember laterally adjacent the same, clutch mechanism between the drivingmember and the hoisting member, a stationary member adjacent thehoisting member, a cam member between the stationary member and thehoisting member, a guide pulley carried by the cam member in position toguide a hoisting rope from the hoisting member and be actuated thereby,and other guide pulleys suitably positioned for guiding the hoistingrope over the hoisting member and over the cam member guide pulley toproduce an angle in the hoisting rope with the cam member guide pulleyin the apex thereof, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

VVENDELL A. BARKER.

WVitnesses l '1. W. THOMPSON, J. E. THOMPSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. 0.

